Apr 09
Posted: under Fun Stuff, General, Praise, Rants.
Tags: blogging, rainn wilson, twitter
I have been kicked squarely in the balls. And it is forcing me to rethink this blog and my lack of involvement in it. Let me explain a little. Those that read this blog regularly (thanks Mom!) may or may not know that I am on Twitter, a kind of mini-blogging social network app that [...] [...more]
I have been kicked squarely in the balls. And it is forcing me to rethink this blog and my lack of involvement in it.
Let me explain a little. Those that read this blog regularly (thanks Mom!) may or may not know that I am on Twitter, a kind of mini-blogging social network app that allows you to blurt out random crap via your mobile phone, computer, typewriter, fax, and morse code. (Ok, maybe not that last one, but I’m sticking with at least the first two). People who “follow” you can read whatever you decide to write. If you’re funny/interesting enough, you gain followers like the Pied Piper. If you are boring enough, they will stop following you shortly after they start following. I usually fall somewhere in the middle of those two extremes.
Celebrities, on the other hand, get hundreds of thousands of dedicated followers. Most of us follow like sheep, just loving the fact that we get to peer ever so slightly into their personal life. The results are sometimes disappointing when we find out that they are just as boring as us, but with more money.
Today, I had had enough of Rainn Wilson (“Dwight” from The Office)’s repeated re-tweets and constant product pitches, and told him so by Tweeting
“@rainnwilson I’m sorry, but we need to break up. I don’t follow celebtwits for RT’s and product endorsements all day. GL in The Office, tho!
The response from Rainn:
“Check out Rays blog! RT @raychampagne Im sorry, but we need to break up.I don’t follow celebtwits for RTs and product endorsements all day.”
So far, I have been inundated with reponses from his followers, most who actually agree with me. Which makes me wonder, is it too harsh to knock down a celebrity for something I get for free, without any contract or expectance of what I’m going to get out of it?
I have had about as many hits on this blog in the past hour as I have had all time. And I haven’t updated in over a month. And before that it was spotty at best. I have been thinking lately that it’s time to get back on the horse, I guess this was the boot in the ass I needed.
Twitterati, if you’re reading this, add my RSS feed to your iGoogle, I’ll try and mildly entertain more frequently.
Mar 06
Posted: under Fun Stuff, General, Libby.
I swear, this is the funniest video of a dog sleeping that I have ever seen. It also might be the fastest youtube clip to circle the ‘net in quite some time. Libby “runs” in her sleep, but this dog takes it to a whole ‘nother level! [...more]
I swear, this is the funniest video of a dog sleeping that I have ever seen. It also might be the fastest youtube clip to circle the ‘net in quite some time. Libby “runs” in her sleep, but this dog takes it to a whole ‘nother level!
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Feb 25
Posted: under Fun Stuff, General, Praise.
Tags: DEER!, Lutsen, minnesota, skiing
After 2 years of not being able to go skiing, like I had been used to doing a lot when living in New England, I finally got to scratch the itch again this weekend by visiting the biggest ski resort in Minnesota, Lutsen Mountain. It was a great feeling to get back on the planks [...] [...more]
After 2 years of not being able to go skiing, like I had been used to doing a lot when living in New England, I finally got to scratch the itch again this weekend by visiting the biggest ski resort in Minnesota, Lutsen Mountain. It was a great feeling to get back on the planks and do a little shusshing down a mountain again.
Lutsen Mountain is a resort about 4 hours north of the Twin Cities, located right on the banks of Lake Superior in Northern Minnesota. Driving up was a little weird, scenery-wise, comparing to what I was used to. When driving to a ski resort in New England, you are accustomed to maneuvering windy hills on your way to a mountain-fun-filled weekend. In Minnesota, you pass many, many fields of last year’s corn and wheat, then find yourself in a vast wilderness of trees and hills on your left, with an ocean-like Lake Superior on your right. Then, all of a sudden, there is an entrance to a Midwest skiing mecca that pops up. No mountain views leading up to that point, just trees and deer and a lot of supporting cast in the form of lodges and restaurants. At this point, I had very little hope of what this long trek had promised in the brochures.
We settled in to our ski-in, ski-out condo on Friday night, under the darkness, me with little hope of finding a great ski hill, and with Lori totally excited about the full hour of foot massage goodness she was scheduled to get the next day. One thing about foot massages is that it doesn’t take mother nature to form a backdrop to make it blissful. At least one of us was not feeling cautiously optimistic.
Fast forward to Saturday. I bought my lift ticket and hit the slopes, iPod in hand. My first ride up the lift was truly awesome. Looking over my shoulder, I saw something that I never thought possible, having skied in New England (and once in CO) my whole life. My view was filled with trees and snowy slopes, followed by a backdrop of a huge, expansive, ocean-like blue of Lake Superior. As far as I could see, I saw water and ice. It was amazing to see that kind of scenery. I was in awe almost all day long. I took pictures and videos until the batteries ran out in the camera. It was just way too cool.
My reviews of the mountain itself are somewhat mixed. The terrain was pretty good, but the length of the runs were disappointing, considering the amount of time it took to get up. The lifts were very antiquated and slow, but the feeling of being “home” outweighed any real complaints that I had of them. Plus, I have been out of the game for 2 years, so the recovery time between runs was welcome. I actually found some great tree runs on the vastly unused side of the mountain, which were a godsend to someone like me, who likes to run in the trees, but doesn’t possess the ability to do trees + steeps. The snow was soft in the interior, mostly unused, and very peaceful. I saw only one other person in there, and that was a ski patrol guy who skied with me and shared a dearth of knowledge of wildlife that I found fascinating.
Lastly, speaking of wildlife, I have to mention the deer. From Duluth forward, we were both amazed at both the population of and the tameness of the deer. They were literally everywhere, in people’s driveways, yards, the road, and side of the road. When you stopped to take pictures of them, they hardly even noticed. We even ate at a general store/diner for breakfast, and they were just hanging out, looking for food. For two people who are used to only seeing deer as they flee your headlights, that was really cool. Lori was counting, and she saw at least 48 deer within 48 hours.
All in all, it was a great long weekend getaway, and for a 4 hour car ride, both Lori and I found it well worth the trip. It was just what was needed to stave off the toils of the day-to-day life for a little while. Libby and Eddie even had what seemed to be a great time, given the snoring away that both of them are doing right next to me right now.
Anyway, check out my Facebook page and my Flickr page to see some shots of the weekend.
Maybe I’ll get my Dad out here yet…
Jan 15
Posted: under Fun Stuff, General, Praise, Rants, WTF is wrong with people?.
Tags: cold, minnesota, winter, WTH is wrong with people?
…your garage door freezes to the ground overnight, and when you go to open it the next morning, it rips the 2X4 supporting the track right off the wall….this happened to me this week…twice. Last night was officially the coldest that I have seen it here yet. It never went above -1 in the city [...] [...more]
…your garage door freezes to the ground overnight, and when you go to open it the next morning, it rips the 2X4 supporting the track right off the wall….this happened to me this week…twice.
Last night was officially the coldest that I have seen it here yet. It never went above -1 in the city yesterday, and by the time I had taken the dog out when I got home, it was -7 in the ‘burbs. Predictions were for the temp to drop and the wind to pick up, with an ambient temperature of -21 and a wind chill in the -40 to -45 range. Balmy!
Around 7:00, I stepped out to grab something at the grocery store for dinner. Glancing at the temp on my way out, I saw that it had dropped to -11 in a matter of an hour. I regretted even having to make the walk from the car to the grocery store door. Luckily, on this end of the trip, I had the relative protection of the garage to look forward to.
While waiting in line to pay for my goods, I couldn’t help but notice the woman in front of me. She was holding just a single box of popsicles. I wrestled back in forth in my head whether I should ask why popsicles in January in Minnesota, and when she finally glanced back in my directtion, I spoke up.
“Popsicles? Really?” I said.
She laughed. ”Yeah, my husband called me at work and said ‘pick up some popsicles!’. I told him he’s crazy. So now he’s at home, sitting outside by the fireplace, waiting for some popsicles”.
I laughed – a little – while I digested what I just heard. Good thing it was her turn to check out, ’cause I really had nothing else to say.
Welcome to Minnesota indeed.
At -21.8 the weather station took itself offline (OFL). Smart machines know when to call it quits, unlike some dumb humans.
Jan 11
Posted: under Fun Stuff, General.
Tags: frank the duck
This came across my email from an old co-worker today (thanks Stewie!) and I couldn’t help posting it here. Who knew a duck could be a good pet? [...more]
This came across my email from an old co-worker today (thanks Stewie!) and I couldn’t help posting it here. Who knew a duck could be a good pet?
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Dec 24
Posted: under Fun Stuff, General, Libby, family.
Tags: Christmas, family, Libby, White Christmas
Lori and I had planned on making the relatively short trip to Ohio to see her Mom this weekend for Christmas, but ultimately had to decide to cancel the trip at the last minute due to the terrible weather that the upper Midwest is supposed to have for the next few days. It would have [...] [...more]
Lori and I had planned on making the relatively short trip to Ohio to see her Mom this weekend for Christmas, but ultimately had to decide to cancel the trip at the last minute due to the terrible weather that the upper Midwest is supposed to have for the next few days. It would have been a good trip, we could have spent Christmas with Lori’s Mom, which she hasn’t been able to do in the past few years, but circumstances just didn’t work out right.
Last year, we drove from Minneapolis to Maine (24 hours or so in good conditions), but didn’t do our homework and ended up stranded at a gas station in Wisconsin for 8 hours while a blizzard passed over us, in the van, freezing, with a dog in tow. When we woke up, there was 12-24 inches of snow on the ground, and driving for the next 12 hours Eastward was just a complete nightmare. A 24 hour trip took us over 32 hours to make, and we were lucky to not have crashed the rental along the way. This year, we hoped that things would work out better, but luck wasn’t on our side again. With the memory of that in our minds, we had to postpone this outing.
Luckily for us, all was not lost. We’ll be snuggled up in our warm house, trying to make the best of yet another holiday away from friends and family, but at least we’ll have ourselves a nice white Christmas! It’s been snowing here for about a week now, not much, but 1-6 inches every night has blanketed us with a nice covering of the white stuff. I ventured out today with the dog and took a few pics of the neighborhood (and of course, Libby) so that we could at least be with our friends and family in spirit.
Venture on over to my Flickr page to see the set of pics.
Merry Christmas to everyone! We’ll miss you.
Dec 15
Posted: under Fun Stuff, General.
Reading the news today turned up this little gem of a Flash game: If you haven’t been following the news, President Bush had a little encounter with a nice shoe-throwing gentleman in Baghdad. Might seem silly, but apparently, throwing your shoe at someone is considered to be one of the lowliest insults in the Arab [...] [...more]
Reading the news today turned up this little gem of a Flash game:
Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Flash video.
If you haven’t been following the news, President Bush had a little encounter with a nice shoe-throwing gentleman in Baghdad. Might seem silly, but apparently, throwing your shoe at someone is considered to be one of the lowliest insults in the Arab world. If you’re interested, check out the BBC explanation.
Oh, the idea is to shoot the shoes, not the president. That probably wouldn’t be smiled upon by the Secret Service.
Nov 09
Posted: under Fun Stuff, General, Rants, WTF is wrong with people?.
Tags: driving, minnesota, tailgaiting
I’ve been living here for about a year and a half and I have to say that unequivocally that Minnesota drivers have to be the worst drivers in the United States. Seriously, it’s a very good thing that I don’t personally own a car and that I don’t drive on a daily basis here, because [...] [...more]
I’ve been living here for about a year and a half and I have to say that unequivocally that Minnesota drivers have to be the worst drivers in the United States. Seriously, it’s a very good thing that I don’t personally own a car and that I don’t drive on a daily basis here, because I think that I would kill myself or more than one person around me in a fit of road rage. When I do drive around the Twin Cities on the weekends, my blood pressure comes close to a boil within about 10 minutes of leaving my driveway. Which is why Lori does most of the driving…
Driving in Massachusetts, I thought, would expose me to what I thought would be the absolute worst drivers ever to be assembled on a road, ever. That thought was destroyed over the past 18 months of living here in MN. I bet that drivers in the Dominican Republic (known as the worst drivers in the world) would have a few choice words if they had to navigate the highways of Minneapolis.
Couple of pointers for those of you with the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” on your license plates:
- Driving 2 feet off the bumper of the car in front of you is not safe, especially at speeds of 70+ MPH. This would seem to be a basic skill that one would be taught in driver’s ed, but apparently it is not one most Minnasota drivers wish to follow.
- Turn signals are something that are imperative to helping other drivers understand what your intentions are. Are you about to cut me off in a gridlock situation? Who cares? It’s all about you, right?
- True “defensive driving” rules say that you should leave a safe distance between the car in front of you so that if they have to stop quickly, I won’t suddenly become a passenger in their backseat. When I leave that 3 seconds between cars, it is not an invite for you to fill that “gap” and make me and everyone behind me susceptible to a 40 car pileup.
- The left hand lane is for PASSING! Minnesota drivers have the need to go all the way to the left at the very first opportunity, and then just travel at the same speed as the car to their right. The result? Three or four lanes of cars traveling the exact same speed, much like an entire linebacking corps holding back the backfield. Traffic flows much better when the faster traffic flows with speeders on the left, grandmas on the right.
A couple of other observations about the way that Minnesota goes about their transportation regulations:
- Why are we not required to do an annual inspection of our vehicles? I have seen some real pieces of shit driving down the road. Some of these cars and trucks don’t look safe enough to drive in a cornfield, much less a public road. Today, I swear I saw the brand of shoes of the guy beside me because of the rust holes in his door.
- To go with the above, if one is not required to maintain their cars, how does the average joe-blow know when it is time to say, replace their brakes, or get new tires, or fix their obviously unsafe chassis components?
- How is it that we have one of the hardest to pass licensing programs in the US, but yet have some of the worst drivers I have ever seen? Seriously, we have driven from here to the East Coast through both the US and Canada several times, and it is uncanny to watch the downgrade of driving etiquette as you pass across the Minnesota border.
- Considering 1 & 2 above, why would I EVER buy a used car in Minnesota, knowing that the previous owner wouldn’t ever have done one iota of maintenace to their car or truck that wasn’t forced on them?
Bah! Enough ranting for now. Last sentiment – Minnesota drivers suck! Wisconsin drivers, you have my props, at least you get it.
Learn from it!
Nov 05
Posted: under Fun Stuff, General, Praise.
Tags: obama, president
As every corner of the world knows by now, Barack Obama won the presidential race in the US last night, and I couldn’t be happier. No matter what you may think of the Democratic Party, or Obama in particular, you have to admit the man can rally a group of people together like no one [...] [...more]
As every corner of the world knows by now, Barack Obama won the presidential race in the US last night, and I couldn’t be happier. No matter what you may think of the Democratic Party, or Obama in particular, you have to admit the man can rally a group of people together like no one we’ve seen in the past few presidential runoffs. I like to think of myself of more of a moderate Republican, but it was just too hard to not get on board with the proposed platform of change and unity. Of course, the proof is still in the pudding, and I look forward to hopefully seeing him succeed to bring us together as a nation and make the US something to be proud of again.
It doesn’t hurt that President-elect Obama has some of the best speeches and delivery we’ve seen this side of Dr. King and JFK. If he is one iota as successful as either of those two were with backing up words with actions, we are in for a treat come Jan 20th and beyond.
And to all the naysayers and McCain supporters out there, all I can ask is give it a chance. Please.
I’ve watched this speech about 5 times on TV and on the web. Can’t even imagine how it can be topped. Damn, I am proud to be an American right now. Yes, we can.
Nov 05
Posted: under Fun Stuff, General.
Tags: dogs, puppies
Here’s a great picture of probably the most cutest picture of a puppy I can ever remember seeing. As the world knows, I love dogs probably more than I love people. I’ve had a pretty hellish week at work, and I don’t know how many times I’ve pulled up this picture to just put things [...] [...more]
Here’s a great picture of probably the most cutest picture of a puppy I can ever remember seeing. As the world knows, I love dogs probably more than I love people. I’ve had a pretty hellish week at work, and I don’t know how many times I’ve pulled up this picture to just put things into perspective and just sit back for a quick 30 second Zen moment. Thanks Daniel, whoever you are.
